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Appraisal of auto-rickshaw as poverty alleviation strategy in Nigeria: An

example of Lagos metropolis

Article · January 2015

DOI: 10.4314/ejesm.v8i1.8

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Ethiopian Journal of Environmental Studies & Management 8(1): 81 – 96, 2015.
ISSN:1998-0507 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ejesm.v8i1.8
Submitted: November 04, 2014 Accepted: January 16, 2015

APPRAISAL OF AUTO-RICKSHAW AS POVERTY ALLEVIATION STRATEGY IN

NIGERIA: AN EXAMPLE OF LAGOS METROPOLIS

*RAJI, B.A.
Department of Geography and Regional Planning, Faculty of Social and Management
Sciences, Olabisi Onabanjo University Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, Nigeria
Email: rajbasholaniyi@yahoo.co.uk

Abstract
The study examines the use of auto-rickshaw (three - wheeled cycle) as poverty alleviation
scheme in metropolitan areas of Lagos state Nigeria, with the aim of exploring the
significance of the scheme in solving beneficiaries’ financial challenges. Data were obtained
from secondary and primary sources. 200 structured questionnaires were randomly
administered to the tricycle operators in 24 stratified loading points in the metropolitan area
and information collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistical
techniques. Findings showed that 73.5% operators benefited and 26% did not benefit from the
scheme. The study also revealed that male operators (97.3%) dominated the scheme. Average
daily income of the operators is more than N2000 (13USD) while daily operating costs was
N1610 (11USD). There is a significant difference in financial difficulty of the operators
( ) in post-procurement of the scheme. Despite a positive change in
financial situations of operators at post-procurement of NAPEP tricycles
( ) and 81% operators’ rating of NAPEP tricycles in poverty
alleviation, some of the challenges facing the operators include high cost of the tricycle
coupled with the unfriendly payback period, extortion from police and local council officials,
problem of routes choice and competition with other road users. Based on the helpfulness of
the scheme, it is recommended that beneficiaries of the scheme be given loan directly at
moderate payback period, provision of parking facilities; educate operators about road safety
than extortion by police and local government officials. While the study revealed the benefits
and challenges of NAPEP policy regarding tricycles in alleviating monetary challenges of
applicants in the state, there is need to address observed challenges in the scheme and as well
prevent reoccurrence in the fourth face of the scheme.

Key Words: Poverty Alleviation, Auto-rickshaw, Lagos Metropolis, Nigeria.

Introduction and fourth national development plans

In Nigeria, the problem of poverty has
for a long time been a cause for concern to
the government. Initial attention focused on
rural development as well as town and
country planning as a practical means of
dealing with the problem. Thus, the second
81
contain both direct and indirect allusions to,
as well as objectives of, policies and
programmes aimed at minimizing the
causes of poverty. Several factors which
include low productivity, market
imperfections, structural shifts in the
 Appraisal of Auto-Rickshaw as Poverty Alleviation Strategy in Nigeria................RAJI
economy, inadequate commitment to
programme implementation, political
instability, etc., are complex and the
consequences often reinforce the causes,
further impoverishing the people (Obi,
2007).
In a recent survey, Obi (2007) noted
that Nigeria’s festering poverty profile was
described as’ “widespread and severe”. The
report of comparative analysis of welfare
ranked Nigeria below Kenya, Ghana and
Zambia and expressed concern over the
dwindling purchasing power of the people
and the increasing income inequality in
Nigeria.
Nigeria is enormously endowed with
human, agricultural, petroleum, natural gas,
and massive untapped mineral resources.
Unfortunately, Nigeria is grouped as one of
the poorest counties at the threshold of the
21st century, when ironically she was
ranked among the richest 50 in the early
1970s (Obadan, 2004).
The increasing poverty level in the
country necessitated the introduction of
poverty alleviation programmes by
successive governments in the country. But
with recent declaration of the reduction in
the incidence of poverty level from 70% to
50% (Kpakol, 2011), this study therefore
examines the use of Auto-rickshaw (Keke
NAPEP) as one of the various strategies
employed by the National Poverty
Alleviation Programme (NAPEP) in the
country.
Aregbesola (2009) was of the opinion
that Nigerian government should stop the
proposition of motorcycle riding and
procurement of three wheeler motorcycles
as a way of alleviating poverty because
they hardly make people rise above
poverty; rather they lead to loss of many
lives. Aibieyi, and Dirisu (2010) observed
that all poverty alleviation programmes in
Nigeria have not been successful due to re-
82
occurrence of similar factors that makes the
programmes unsuccessful. Agbi (2014)
however noted that though NAPEP is a
laudable programme meant for the poor
across the federation, it could avoid proper
monitoring, evaluation, commitment and
reprimanding for lacking legal backing.
Agbiokoro (2010) stated that in spite of
the problems facing the implementation of
NAPEP as poverty eradication programmes
in Nigeria, NAPEP seems to have impacted
significantly positive on the economics of
Nigeria. Owoeye (2009) also observed that
irrespective of gender, Keke NAPEP has
been a source of income generation for
both the poor and the University graduates.
Contributions to NAPEP by the
scholars above revealed divergent views on
its relevance. In the light of this, this study
is set to examine the significance of
NAPEP through ‘Keke NAPEP’ in easing
the socio-economic challenges of the
beneficiaries of the scheme.
Direct and indirect involvement of
government in the provision of
transportation is well established the world
over (Raji, 2009; Raji and Otun, 2008). The
global economic recession and the fall out
of Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP)
between 1987 and 1993 in Nigeria greatly
affect the purchasing power of government
and the populace to replace existing public
transport fleet of buses and taxis (Adeniji,
1982; Oyesiku, 2001; Oyesiku and
Odufuwa, 2002).
In order to meet the transport needs of
people, motorcycle popularly called
(‘okada’ or ‘zemidjan’) which is commonly
used as means of inter-city transport in the
riverine areas of the country surfaced as
commercial transport system in most urban
areas of the country. And this has come to
stay in most West- African states.
With the externalities of motorcycles
such as road traffic accidents, robberies and
 Ethiopian Journal of Environmental Studies and Management Vol. 8 no. 1 2015
so on, there is also the need to complement
existing public transport and as well create
jobs for people of Lagos, about 500 units of
auto-rickshaw tricycles was brought in
March, 1998 to Lagos state and these was
called ‘Keke Marwa’ named after the then
military governor of Lagos state Colonel
Buba Marwa who initiated the use of
tricycle as a means of transportation in the
Lagos metropolis (Owoyele, 2009).
One way to empower people is by
creating employment that can give them
income. Using Keke NAPEP for
commercial transportation is one of the
poverty alleviation strategies that the
Federal Government employed through
National Poverty Eradication Programme in
creating employment for the unemployed.
The study therefore focuses on Keke
NAPEP operators’ activities, with the view
to explore the significance of the scheme in
alleviating beneficiaries’ socio-economic
challenges.
Methodology
The Study Area
This study was based on the study of
auto-rickshaw (tricycles) operators in
Alimosho Local Government Area of
Lagos State (figure 1). Alimosho Local
Government is one of the twenty Local
83
Government Areas in Lagos State (figure
2). Alimosho lies is between Latitudes 60
36/and 38/ and Longitude 30 17/ and 45/. It
is bounded in the North by Ifako-Ijaye
Local Government, south by Ojo and
Amuwo-Odofin Local Governement Areas,
East by Agege, Ikeja and Oshodi-Isolo
Local Government Areas and in the west
by Ogun State. The Local Government is
the largest metropolitan area in Lagos state
with population of about 1,277,714
inhabitants (NPC, 2006). Figure 3 shows
the loading points of the tricycle operators
in the Local Government Area of the state.
Although, the actual number of NAPEP
tricycle operators in Lagos state was not
known but they can be seen in many parks
of fringe settlements such as Ipaja, Ayobo,
Ikotun, Ijekun, Iseri-Oshun, Idimu, Egbeda,
Aboru, Shasha in the Local Government
Area. These settlements are evolving as
urban area and as well faced with
inadequate transportation facilities enjoyed
by other metropolitan areas in the state
(Raji, 2009).The choice of Alimosho thus
stems from preliminary investigation which
revealed that the Local Government Area
has the largest concentration of NAPEP
tricycle operators and numerous low
income earners in Lagos state.
 Appraisal of Auto-Rickshaw as Poverty Alleviation Strategy in Nigeria................RAJI

Figure 1: Lagos state Map

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 Ethiopian Journal of Environmental Studies and Management Vol. 8 no. 1 2015

Figure 2: Map of Alimosho

85
 Appraisal of Auto-Rickshaw as Poverty Alleviation Strategy in Nigeria................RAJI
Figure 3: Map of Alimosho with Tricycle Loading Points
Research Design
The research design used for the study
is survey designs which involve
explanatory design. Information was
obtained from tricycle operators in relation
to the research questions through a well-
structured questionnaire. Thereafter,
information collected from the tricycle
operators was used in presenting the results
of the study. A two-staged sampling
technique was used. Loading points of
tricycle operators in Alimosho Local
Government Area was stratified into 24
loading points. In each of the loading
points, questionnaires were randomly
administered
86
Sources of Data
Data used for the study were collected
from both secondary and primary sources.
Secondary data such as Annual Abstract of
Statistics, Technical Reports, Academic
Journals and other periodic publications
about Lagos State, the metropolitan area
and tricycle operations were used.
Information obtained includes historical
development of poverty alleviation
programme and the advent of auto rickshaw
in Lagos state. Primary data used to
complement secondary sources in the study
was questionnaire and some of the
questions asked include tricycle operators’
socio-economic characteristics, housing
situation, type of ownership, years of
 Ethiopian Journal of Environmental Studies and Management Vol. 8 no. 1 2015

operations, daily average income and
operating costs, pre and post financial
situation and some of the challenges
encountered.
Study Population Sample Size
The tricycle operators in Alimosho
Local Government Area of Lagos State
have an estimated population of three
hundred and nineteen (319). However, two
hundred (200) operators were sampled and
technique used was proportional allocation.
In proportional allocation, Thomsen (1976),
Sukhatme et al. (1984), Okafor (2002), Raji
(2013) and Raji et al. (2014) observed that
the stratum sample is selected such that the
size of the sample is proportional to the
total number of units in each stratum, such
that nhαN h or nhαWh If the total sample
that is to be allocated is ( n ) , then the
stratum sample is given as:
n
nh = N h = nWh
N
Where nh = Stratum sample size
n = Total number of sample to be allocated
(in this case, n = 150 )
Nh = Units or stratum of the anticipated
population (sample size = 200)
N= Observed total population
(estimated population = 319)
The result is shown in table 1.

Table 1: Locations of Loading Points of Auto-rickshaw, Estimated Population of Operators

their sample size at each location
Locations Estimated Population Sample Size Total Questionnaires
(N) (Nh) Obtained
1 7 4 4
2 10 6 6
3 15 9 9
4 11 7 7
5 8 5 5
6 20 13 13
7 14 9 9
8 16 10 10
9 18 11 11
10 10 6 6
11 21 13 13
12 12 8 8
13 16 10 10
14 10 6 6
15 12 8 8
16 14 9 9
17 18 11 11
18 22 14 14
19 16 10 10
20 18 11 11
21 10 6 6
22 6 4 4
23 9 6 6
24 6 4 4
Total 319 200 200

Data Analysis quantitative approaches. Descriptive

Thereafter, information obtained were statistics such as frequency tables,
analysed using both qualitative and percentages and averages as well as
87
 Appraisal of Auto-Rickshaw as Poverty Alleviation Strategy in Nigeria................RAJI

inferential statistics (Chi-Square and
Student-t) were used in the presentation of
the findings.
Results and Discussion
Operators Socio-economic Characteristics
Table 2 shows socio-economic
characteristics of the tricycle operators
interviewed in the study area. Majority of
the tricycle operators in the study area are
male (97.3%) and married (86.4%). The
distribution of tricycle operators based on
household size shows that 1.4% of the
operators have household size of one,
21.8% have household size of two, 16.3%
have household size of three and 60.5% of
the tricycle operators have household size
is more than three.

Table 2: Socio-Economic Characteristics of Tricycle Operators

Variables Freq %
Gender
Male 143 97.3
Female 4 2.7
Marital Status
Single 6 4.1
Married 127 86.4
Divorced 11 7.5
Widowed 3 2.0
Household size
One 2 1.4
Two 32 21.8
Three 24 16.3
More than three 89 60.5
Age (Years)
20 - 30 15 10.2
31 - 40 87 59.2
41 - 50 35 23.8
51 - 60 7 4.8
Above 60 3 2.0
Level of Education
No formal education 64 32.0
Having primary education 61 30.6
Having secondary education 50 25.2
Having post-secondary education 25 12.2

Categorising the tricycle operators in 25.2% have secondary school education

the study area according to their age, the
distribution showed that majority of the
tricycle operators (69.4%) are in the
working class group between (20-40) years.
Distribution of the tricycle operators in the
study area according to their level of
education shows that 32.0% of the
operators are not educated in any form,
30.6% have primary school education,
and 12.2% of the operators have post-
secondary school education. The result
shows that large numbers of the operators
68.0% have one form of education or the
other.
The poor in Nigeria are not a
homogeneous group as observed by Obi
(2007), though this study is based on
tricycle operators a homogenous group but

88
 Ethiopian Journal of Environmental Studies and Management Vol. 8 no. 1 2015

there are variations in their socio-economic characteristics: sector, education, age,

status. For example, evidence from the
World Bank poverty assessment on Nigeria
using 1992/93 household survey data,
shows that the nature of those in poverty
can be distinguished by the following
gender and employment status, of the head
of household and the household size
(Federal Office of Statistics,1995) as shown
in table 3.

Table 3: Poverty incidence by socio-economic groups, 1996/97

Socio-economic groups Extreme poor Moderate poor Non-poor
Urban 25.2 33.0 41.8
Rural 31.6 38.2 30.7
Male-headed 29.8 36.7 33.6
Female-headed 25.0 33.5 41.5
Age of head
15-24 16.2 21.2 62.6
25-34 20.2 32.5 47.3
35-44 27.9 36.7 35.4
45-54 32.7 38.6 28.7
55-64 32.6 37.3 30.1
65 and above 33.5 34.6 32.0
Education of head
Non 34.3 38.3 27.4
Primary 24.3 35.1 40.6
Secondary 21.2 30.8 48.0
Post-secondary 15.3 32.9 51.8
Source: Federal Office of Statistics (1999), adapted from Fiscal policy and poverty alleviation: Some
policy options for Nigeria by Obi (2007).
live with a family and 3.4% of the tricycle
The result of the finding regarding the operators.
level of education of the tricycle operators
in table 2 shows a resemblance with the Table 4: Housing Situation of Operators
statistics obtained by Federal Office of Variables Freq %
Statistics (1999) (table 3) which indicated Owned a house 23 15.6
that large proportion of people that are Rent a House 92 62.6
extremely poor, people that are moderately Living with a family 27 18.4
poor and non-poor with values 65.7%, No Response 5 3.4
61.7% and 72.6% respectively have one The result in table 4 shows that large
form of education or the other. numbers of the tricycle operators (81%) do
Housing Situations of Operators not own their own houses and this require
The distribution of tricycle operators payment of house rents and certain
according to their housing situations is responsibilities for those who rent a house
presented in table 4.The results shows that and live with a family respectively.
15.6% of the tricycle operators live in their Ownership Type and Number of Tricycles
personal house, a majority of the operators Owned
62.6% rent the house they live in, 18.4% Table 5 shows the distribution of
tricycle operators according to ownership
89
 Appraisal of Auto-Rickshaw as Poverty Alleviation Strategy in Nigeria................RAJI

type of the tricycle. The result showed that tricycle. The distribution also shows that
91.8% of the respondents owned the while 6.1% of the tricycle operators have
NAPEP tricycles while 8.2% of the do not spent between 5 to 6 years using the
owned the tricycle. tricycle, majority (45.6%) of the operators
have spent more than 6 years using the
Table 5: Operators Ownership of Tricycles tricycle.
Variables Freq % Daily Average Income Generated and
Ownership Operating Costs Incurred by the Tricycle
Owned 135 91.8 Operators
Do not Owned 12 8.2 This study is centre onhow income
Number Owned generated by tricycle operators help in
One 43 31.9 taking care of their live challenges and how
Two 64 47.4
this income generation indirectly helps in
Three 21 15.5
More than Three 7 5.2 alleviating their poverty. Thus, table 7gives
information of daily income of tricycle
Out of one hundred and thirty-five operators and table 8 discusses average
operators that owned the tricycle, table 5 daily operating costs of the tricycle
revealed that 31.9% of the operators owned operators.
one tricycle, majority (47.4) of the
operators sampled owned two tricycles, Table 7: Average Daily Income Generating
15.5% of the operators owned three Capabilities of Tricycle Operators
tricycles and 5.2% of the operators sample Variables Freq %
in the study area owned more than three N (1000 – 2000) 7 4.8
tricycles. N (2001 – 3000) 36 24.5
Years of Operation of Tricycle Operators N (3001 – 4000) 91 61.9
N (4001 – 5000) 11 7.5
An examination of tricycle operators’
N (Above 5000) 2 1.4
years of operation, the result in table 6
shows that 7.5% of the tricycle operators
The average daily income rather than
start using ‘Keke NAPEP’ less than a year
average monthly income or average annual
during the period of survey, 8.2% of the
income was used in order to make it easier
operators have spent between 1 to 2 years
for the operators to be able to recollect the
using the tricycle.
amount they generate. The result shows
that 4.8% of the operators in the study area
Table 6: Operators Years of Operation
generate between N 1,000:00 and N
Variables Freq %
< 1year 11 7.5
2,000:00, 24.5% of the operators generate
1 – 2 years 12 8.2 between N 2, 001:00 and N 3,000:00, a
3 – 4 years 48 32.6 majority of the operators (61.9%) generate
5 – 6 years 9 6.1 between N 3,001:00 and N 4,000:00, 7.5%
> 6 years 67 45.6 of the operators generate between N4,
001:00 and N 5,000:00, and 1.4% of the
The study further revealed that 32.6% operators generate average daily income
of the operators sampled in the study area above N5,000:00.
have spent between 3 to 4 years using the

90
 Ethiopian Journal of Environmental Studies and Management Vol. 8 no. 1 2015

Table 8: Average Daily Operating Costs and table 8 show that the tricycle operators’
Variables Amount average yearly net income is equivalent to
Fuel N910:00 N 803,040 (5,354USD).The results of the
Engine Oil N 200:00 net income of the tricycle operators’
Gear Oil* N 200:00 necessitated the need to look at their
Police N 100:00 financial situations of before and after
Local N 100:00 acquiring the tricycles.
Park Ticket N 100:00
Total Amount N 1,610:00
Pre and Post Financial Situations of
Tricycle Operators
*Note: This does not occur on daily basis
Table 9 shows the distribution of
tricycle operators’ financial situations
In essence, this distribution shows that
before and after procuring NAPEP
majority of the operators generate an
tricycles. The distribution shows that 76.4
average ofN112, 000 (747USD) monthly,
% of the operators find it difficult to pay
resulting to and average of N1,344,000
house rent before acquiring NAPEP
(8,960USD)yearly. The average daily
tricycle; the former reduced from 76.4% to
operating costs of the tricycle operators as
43.7% the later after acquiring NAPEP
shown in table 7 revealed a total amount of
tricycle. This means that 56.3% of the
N 1,610 which amount to N 45,080
operators find it easy to pay house rent after
(301USD) monthly and N 540,960
acquiring the tricycle.
(3,606USD) yearly. The results in table 7

Table 9: Financial Situations of Operators Before and After Procuring NAPEP Tricycle
Variables Before Procurement After Procurement
Easy Difficult Easy Difficult
% % % %
House Rent 23.6 76.4 56.3 43.7
Electricity Bills 56.8 43.2 92.7 7.3
Children School 3.3 96.7 54.2 45.8
Fees
Medical Bills 35.7 64.3 46.8 53.2
Other 43.6 56.4 67.3 32.7
Responsibilities
Paired Samples Test
Before Procurement After Procurement

-1.345 0.250 1.695 0.165

On payment of electricity bills, the
distribution shows that there is a decrease
in the difficulty of operators to pay
electricity bills from 43.2% before
obtaining NAPEP tricycle to 7.3% after
obtaining the tricycle. The result in table
9shows that on the payment of children
91
school fees, the easiness in the payment of
children school fees of the tricycle
operators increases from 3.3% before
acquiring NAPEP tricycle to 54.2% after
acquiring the tricycle.
The distribution based on tricycle
operators’ medical bills shows that 64.3 %
 Appraisal of Auto-Rickshaw as Poverty Alleviation Strategy in Nigeria................RAJI
of the operators find it difficult to pay
medical bills before acquiring NAPEP
tricycle; the former reduced from 64% to
53.2% the later after acquiring NAPEP
tricycle. This means that large proportion
of the operators still find it difficult to pay
medical bills after acquiring the tricycle.
Based on other responsibilities, the
distribution shows that there is a decrease
in the difficulty of operators to face other
responsibilities from 56.4% before
obtaining NAPEP tricycle to 32.7% after
obtaining the tricycle. The result shows that
67.3% of the operators find it easy to face
other responsibilities after acquiring the
tricycle. The paired samples test (t-test)
conducted financial situations of the
Table 10: Average Welfare Measure of Pre and Post NAPEP Tricycle Operators
Pre-procurement of
NAPEP tricycles
% %
Difficult 67.4
Easy 32.6
Chi-Square Value
Ease - Difficulty in Pre and 38.50
Post Procurement
The result in table 10 though shows
appreciable changes in the financial
situations or welfare of the tricycle
operators. In order to assert the significance
of the observed welfare of the operators, a
Chi-Square ( ) test was conducted. The
computation in table 10 shows a significant
difference in the observed change difficult
financial situations to ease in financial
situations when is greater than
. In spite of the positive
changes in the operators’ financial
situations as shown in table 9 and table 10,
section 5.7 examines some of the
challenges being faced by the operators.
92
operators shows that at the pre-procurement
period, there is no significant difference in
the financial situations less
than = 0.250 but the post-pre-
procurement period shows a significant
difference when greater than
= 0.165.
The average financial situations of
NAPEP tricycle operators was computed to
give average welfare measure of tricycle
operators’ pre and post tricycle operations
in table 10.The result shows that there is a
shift in operators welfare from easy
situations of 36.6% before procurement of
tricycle to easy situations of 63.5% .
Pre-procurement of
NAPEP tricycles
36.5
63.5
3.84
Challenges Faced by Tricycle operators
Tricycle operators sampled in the
course of this research expressed their
challenges in the bid to acquire NAPEP
tricycle and in their course of operation.
These challenges include cost of procuring
the tricycle, routes of operation, size of the
tricycle, parking problem and problem
involving other road users.
Costs of obtaining the Tricycle: All the
operators sampled (100%) were of the
opinion that the cost of acquiring a tricycle
is enormous. They liken the cost of
acquiring an auto-rickshaw to buying a
fairly used car. The operators explained
 Ethiopian Journal of Environmental Studies and Management Vol. 8 no. 1 2015
that the tricycles are given out by Micro-
finance Bank on hire purchase at an
average price of N 550,000 and registration
which cost between N 80,000 to N 85,000.
The total of which is equivalent to N
635,000 (4,233USD).
The study further revealed that NAPEP
is to encourage operators to buy through
Imitative of Peace Tolerance and Training
(IPET), one of its various scheme. IPET
procure and sell the tricycle at a unit price
of N 330,000 (2,200USD) and operators are
to pay into two different accounts, N
295,000 (1,967USD) is to be paid into
IPET account and N 35,000 is to be paid as
commission.
Ironically, NAPEP sells to individual
that has the capability to buy the tricycles
in fleet at the rate of N 330,000
(2,200USD) and these individuals sells to
Micro-finance Bank at the rate of N350,000
(2,333USD), the bank later sells to tricycle
operators at the rate of N 550,000
(3,667USD) in hire purchase and this put
additional financial costs of N200,000
(1,333USD) to the purchase of the
tricycle.The operators explained that the
actions of NAPEP officials make it difficult
to acquire the tricycle at the official price,
thereby, questioned the credibility of the
programme.
Route Choice, Size of Tricycle and
Parking Facilities: From the interview
conducted through the use of questionnaire,
operators were of the opinion that in many
a time, they often ply the route that is
economical in order to meet up with the
payment of the tricycle. Due to unspecified
route, and with the size of the tricycle, they
have to share road ways with trucks and
other vehicles and this make the operators
and passengers vulnerable to road traffic
accident. The operators in the study area
also lament that, because of uncoordinated
93
tricycle riders association, they lack parks
of garages, and many of the operators use
roadside as park.
Problems Faced with Other Road Users:
Another challenge the tricycle operators are
facing is the face of between them and
other road users. The distribution in table
11 shows the percentage response of
problems faced by tricycle operators in the
study area. 11.6% of the respondents
compete with vehicles, 6.8% of the
operators compete with pedestrians when
sharing available space on the roadways
with pedestrians or when using walkways
during congestion, majority of the operators
45.6% see police as problem because of
their extortions, 3.4% of the operators
engage with traders when sharing side
roads they use for parking or ran into the
traders using side road as market place and
32.6% of the operators see the extortion
and seizure of their tricycle by local
government council officials
Table 11: Tricycle Operators contention
with other Road Users
Variables Freq %
Vehicles 17 11.6
Pedestrians 10 6.8
Police 67 45.6
Traders 5 3.4
Local Council Officials 48 32.6
In spite of the challenges the tricycle
operators are facing, operators were asked
to assess the significance of National
Poverty Alleviation Programme of the
auto-rickshaws in poverty reduction
through self-empowerment and job
creation. The results of the operators
response is presented in table 12.
Overall Assessment of NAPEP Auto-
Rickshaws: The distribution of tricycle
operators in response to their overall
assessment of NAPEP auto-rickshaw in
 Appraisal of Auto-Rickshaw as Poverty Alleviation Strategy in Nigeria................RAJI
poverty reduction shows that 11.8% of the
operators assessment is excellent, 50.3%
gives the scheme very good rating, 19.1%
of the operators see the programme to be
good, 10.2% of the respondent believe the
programme is fair and 8.8% of the tricycle
operators sampled in the study area believe
that the scheme performance is poor.
Table 12: Overall Assessment of NAPEP
Auto-Rickshaw in Poverty
Alleviation
Variables Freq % to curb the police and local
Excellent 17 11.6
Very Good 74 50.3
Good 28 19.1
Fair 15 10.2
Poor 13 8.8
In spite of the operators’ complaints
about NAPEP auto-rickshaw scheme, the
distribution of the overall assessment of the
programme revealed that large number of
the operators sampled in the study area
(81%) still believe that the scheme is
reasonable or satisfactory and the positive
change in the tricycle operators’ difficult
situations before and after purchasing the
tricycle as shown in table 9 and table 10
earlier confirmed the result of table 12.
Conclusion and Recommendation
The study examines tricycle operators
who benefited from poverty alleviation
scheme termed NAPEP. Findings show that
there was an improvement in the welfare of
tricycle operators who were involved in the
scheme. In spite of the benefits of the
scheme, many problems were highlighted
by tricycle operators. These problems
include (i) high cost of acquiring the
tricycle with short term payback period, (ii)
problems associated with parking, (iii)
continual extortion from the police and
local government officials and (iv) conflict
94
with other road users which often results to
road traffic accidents. Based on the
findings of the study, it is recommended
that:
(i) Government should create a way by
which beneficiaries of the scheme
will obtain the loan directly and
payback period be reviewed.
(ii) Adequate parking provision should
be made for tricycle operators in
various parks where they operate.
(iii)Mechanism should be put in place
government officials in extorting
the tricycle operators.
(iv) Enlighten other road users in
accommodating tricycle operators
on Lagos roads.
(v) Fourth phase of ‘Keke NAPEP’
must be handled with care in order
to sustain the scheme.
Many poverty eradication schemes in
Nigeria have failed, the failure stems from
the fact that the schemes are forceful in
formulation but deficient in
implementation. National Poverty
Eradication Programme (NAPEP) scheme
may be successful and sustain if
government at local, state and federal levels
permit properimplementation of the
scheme.
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